Blog Entry 1
For the 20% project, my partner Ben and I are remodeling the amphitheater behind the east building to make it more beautiful and inviting in hope that it will be used more often by a bigger range of people. Our project is aimed towards the students and staff of Animas. We hope that by making the amphitheater look better and use space more efficiently, it will allow people to eat lunch, host NEST meetings, and gather for X-Block among other things.
To me, student-based learning is when the student gets to choose what they want to learn about based on what their interests are. Audience-based learning to me is learning what’s in the curriculum and making a project thats point is to show an audience that you’re doing what the state requires. Personally I prefer student-based learning because it gives you a lot more freedom and I learn a lot more if I’m interested and engaged with the material.
So far we have talked to the art teachers about maybe having one of their classes paint a mural on the side of the building, we have created a survey that we plan to send out to the school to get student feedback about things they would like to see fixed or added to the amphitheater, and we have come up with some tasks that we can accomplish that won’t require funding and that we can start working on before the survey goes out. The only challenge we have faced so far is having almost too many ideas for things to add or fix. We don’t have enough time in the project to complete all the things we have in mind so the next thing we need to do is prioritize the jobs from what we and the students want most to least.
Our next step of action is to clear all the snow out of the amphitheater and then extend the drainage pipe so we can cover it and flatten out the ground. This is one of the jobs that won’t require funding and that will open up a lot of other possibilities for things we can add to make the space better overall.
To me, student-based learning is when the student gets to choose what they want to learn about based on what their interests are. Audience-based learning to me is learning what’s in the curriculum and making a project thats point is to show an audience that you’re doing what the state requires. Personally I prefer student-based learning because it gives you a lot more freedom and I learn a lot more if I’m interested and engaged with the material.
So far we have talked to the art teachers about maybe having one of their classes paint a mural on the side of the building, we have created a survey that we plan to send out to the school to get student feedback about things they would like to see fixed or added to the amphitheater, and we have come up with some tasks that we can accomplish that won’t require funding and that we can start working on before the survey goes out. The only challenge we have faced so far is having almost too many ideas for things to add or fix. We don’t have enough time in the project to complete all the things we have in mind so the next thing we need to do is prioritize the jobs from what we and the students want most to least.
Our next step of action is to clear all the snow out of the amphitheater and then extend the drainage pipe so we can cover it and flatten out the ground. This is one of the jobs that won’t require funding and that will open up a lot of other possibilities for things we can add to make the space better overall.
Blog Entry 2
This week we have learned that the budget that the school has for campus beautification expires by next year so if we want to use some of it to order gravel for the east building amphitheater, we will have to order gravel for all the other places that need it and spread it in those places as well as the spot we’re working on. We also learned Dom is willing to help us put the extension to the drainage pipe on and in order to do that we have to dig out a path for the pipe so it will be angled downhill.
So far we have cleared out almost all the snow so we can start working on digging out the pipe and we have also made plans about how many seats we will add in the rows and which rocks we will chisel in order to make them better seats. We have also nearly completed the survey that we plan to send out to the students and it should be done either by the end of class today or by the end of class on Tuesday. We have also gotten all the approval we need to move forward on this project from Dom, Shawn, Libby, Matt, and other teachers. We have talked to all of them about our vision for the amphitheater and they have all given their approval.
A challenge we have faced so far is the amount of mud and clay that has collected in the ditch. It is a lot heavier and harder to move than the dirt around the ditch. Today we brought new shovels in from our homes that we hope will make the job of digging out the ditch easier and will hopefully solve this problem.
Our next step of action will be digging out the rest of the ditch and preparing it for the extension pipe. We will also start digging out the hill to make room for the extra seats and use the dirt from the hill to fill over the pipe. We will also send out the survey to the students of AHS in order to get a feel for what everyone wants to see
So far we have cleared out almost all the snow so we can start working on digging out the pipe and we have also made plans about how many seats we will add in the rows and which rocks we will chisel in order to make them better seats. We have also nearly completed the survey that we plan to send out to the students and it should be done either by the end of class today or by the end of class on Tuesday. We have also gotten all the approval we need to move forward on this project from Dom, Shawn, Libby, Matt, and other teachers. We have talked to all of them about our vision for the amphitheater and they have all given their approval.
A challenge we have faced so far is the amount of mud and clay that has collected in the ditch. It is a lot heavier and harder to move than the dirt around the ditch. Today we brought new shovels in from our homes that we hope will make the job of digging out the ditch easier and will hopefully solve this problem.
Our next step of action will be digging out the rest of the ditch and preparing it for the extension pipe. We will also start digging out the hill to make room for the extra seats and use the dirt from the hill to fill over the pipe. We will also send out the survey to the students of AHS in order to get a feel for what everyone wants to see
Blog Entry 3
We have learned that the extension pipe that we need to order is more expensive and harder to find than we thought at first. Dom helped us measure it so we now know the dimensions of the pipe we need but we have looked at most hardware stores in Durango with no luck so far. We have also looked at websites for the pipe we need with no luck.
So far we have sent out the student survey and have gotten a lot of positive feedback. We intend to use this feedback to make a list of things we want to accomplish after we get done extending the drainage pipe. A lot of students want things that don’t seem possible with the time that is remaining in the project so we also have to make a list of things that we can realistically do. We have also dug about half the trench for the pipe extension and we figure it will take us about 2-3 more days to completely finish it.
A challenge we have faced so far is finding the right pipe that will fit to the original one. It has been a lot harder to find a pipe with the right dimensions that we need than we originally thought . Another challenge has been time that we have in the project. As this project moves along, we have realized that we don’t have as much time as we thought at first which means we probably won’t get to do as much stuff to change the amphitheater as we thought we could at the start of the project.
Our next step of action is to look for the pipe at more places and ask Dom if he knows where it came from or where we can get one. We are also planning to finish digging the trench by the end of the week and hopefully ordering the pipe so it gets here at the beginning of next week. Another thing we plan to do is organize the feedback we got from the students so we can picture what they want most.
So far we have sent out the student survey and have gotten a lot of positive feedback. We intend to use this feedback to make a list of things we want to accomplish after we get done extending the drainage pipe. A lot of students want things that don’t seem possible with the time that is remaining in the project so we also have to make a list of things that we can realistically do. We have also dug about half the trench for the pipe extension and we figure it will take us about 2-3 more days to completely finish it.
A challenge we have faced so far is finding the right pipe that will fit to the original one. It has been a lot harder to find a pipe with the right dimensions that we need than we originally thought . Another challenge has been time that we have in the project. As this project moves along, we have realized that we don’t have as much time as we thought at first which means we probably won’t get to do as much stuff to change the amphitheater as we thought we could at the start of the project.
Our next step of action is to look for the pipe at more places and ask Dom if he knows where it came from or where we can get one. We are also planning to finish digging the trench by the end of the week and hopefully ordering the pipe so it gets here at the beginning of next week. Another thing we plan to do is organize the feedback we got from the students so we can picture what they want most.
Blog Entry 4
Since my last blog entry we have learned a lot of things. We realized that we needed to call 811 before we started digging (we were a little late on realizing that) so we wouldn’t hit any powerlines or anything buried under the ground. We also learned that we needed to call the Fire Marshal to confirm that we didn’t need a permit to extend the drainage pipe and for her to give us the “ok” on our project. We also learned how expensive the pipe we might use is and how much gravel we will need (around 10 tons) and also about how expensive it will be (around $90).
Since my last blog entry we have accomplished a lot of things. First, we called 811 to check if there were power lines or anything that we would hit while digging and we called the Fire Marshal down to confirm that we were allowed to extend the drainage pipe which she did so we are now pushing to finish digging the ditch. We also found two places to buy the PVC pipe that we need. It will be around $157 for 42 feet of piping. Along with that, we found that we will need around 10 tons of gravel to fill in the space which will cost about $90. Another thing we have accomplished is finding a mentor. Stephen introduced us to Kyle Grist who lives in Texas and is a landscaper/designer. We FaceTimed him and showed him our plans for the amphitheater and he gave us feedback and new ideas for things we could add or improve about the space. He also gave us some ideas about what to do with the drainage pipe which we will look into today to find out how much some of his ideas would cost. The last thing we accomplished is we pulled almost all the weeds and dead grass off half of the hill around the amphitheater and are fairly close to finishing.
Some challenges that we are currently facing are budget, moving rocks in for more seating, and moving the stage. The cost of this project is getting to be higher and higher the more we learn about the things we envisioned so we need to either cut some stuff out or think of creative ways to cut prices. Moving rocks is looking like it will be a big challenge because they’re extremely heavy. We might use the same wheelbarrow we use for moving gravel to move them but it will still be very hard to pull off. Moving the stage is also looking to be very hard because it’s very heavy as well and we would probably need around 30 people to help carry it all the way over to the amphitheater which would be a hard thing to do.
Our next step of action is to confirm the cost for the pvc pipe and dial in what we want exactly. We also want to finish the ditch and finish weeding in the near future so we can start doing other things.
Since my last blog entry we have accomplished a lot of things. First, we called 811 to check if there were power lines or anything that we would hit while digging and we called the Fire Marshal down to confirm that we were allowed to extend the drainage pipe which she did so we are now pushing to finish digging the ditch. We also found two places to buy the PVC pipe that we need. It will be around $157 for 42 feet of piping. Along with that, we found that we will need around 10 tons of gravel to fill in the space which will cost about $90. Another thing we have accomplished is finding a mentor. Stephen introduced us to Kyle Grist who lives in Texas and is a landscaper/designer. We FaceTimed him and showed him our plans for the amphitheater and he gave us feedback and new ideas for things we could add or improve about the space. He also gave us some ideas about what to do with the drainage pipe which we will look into today to find out how much some of his ideas would cost. The last thing we accomplished is we pulled almost all the weeds and dead grass off half of the hill around the amphitheater and are fairly close to finishing.
Some challenges that we are currently facing are budget, moving rocks in for more seating, and moving the stage. The cost of this project is getting to be higher and higher the more we learn about the things we envisioned so we need to either cut some stuff out or think of creative ways to cut prices. Moving rocks is looking like it will be a big challenge because they’re extremely heavy. We might use the same wheelbarrow we use for moving gravel to move them but it will still be very hard to pull off. Moving the stage is also looking to be very hard because it’s very heavy as well and we would probably need around 30 people to help carry it all the way over to the amphitheater which would be a hard thing to do.
Our next step of action is to confirm the cost for the pvc pipe and dial in what we want exactly. We also want to finish the ditch and finish weeding in the near future so we can start doing other things.
Blog Entry 5
One thing that struck me most during the gallery walk today is that a lot of people don’t have much to show so far. This made me glad that Ben and I decided to work on the amphitheater because we have clear goals and obvious progress which I think makes the project easier to manage. We didn’t get any feedback from the gallery walk because only two people talked to us about our project and they didn’t have any feedback after we finished explaining what we are doing.
Since the last blog entry, we have finished weeding the entire hillside and have moved all of the piles of weeds into the dumpster which was a lot more work than we expected. We also talked to Kyle about french drains again and decided to make a decision about installing one or not after we get the pipe delivered.
One challenge we faced was finding a way to move the piles of weeds into the dumpster since there was a huge amount of them and the dumpster was pretty far away. We ended up finding an old computer cart by the sheds and put a plywood board on top of it. We piled the weeds on the board, carried it over to the cart, and pushed the cart with the board on top to the dumpster where we pushed the weeds inside. This method ended up working well and allowed us to finish moving the weeds pretty quickly.
Our next step of action is to order the pipe and maybe the gravel and clean up debris from weeding. We will talk to Shawn tomorrow about getting the money for ordering the pipe and gravel and then call the companies to get it done.
Since the last blog entry, we have finished weeding the entire hillside and have moved all of the piles of weeds into the dumpster which was a lot more work than we expected. We also talked to Kyle about french drains again and decided to make a decision about installing one or not after we get the pipe delivered.
One challenge we faced was finding a way to move the piles of weeds into the dumpster since there was a huge amount of them and the dumpster was pretty far away. We ended up finding an old computer cart by the sheds and put a plywood board on top of it. We piled the weeds on the board, carried it over to the cart, and pushed the cart with the board on top to the dumpster where we pushed the weeds inside. This method ended up working well and allowed us to finish moving the weeds pretty quickly.
Our next step of action is to order the pipe and maybe the gravel and clean up debris from weeding. We will talk to Shawn tomorrow about getting the money for ordering the pipe and gravel and then call the companies to get it done.
Blog Entry 6
Since my last update we have learned that putting the pvc pipe pieces together is a lot harder than we first thought. We learned that the pipes have a rubber seal that the edge of the other pipe needs to be pushed passed and that putting soapy water on both pipes will make it easier to push them together.
Since my last blog post we got the pvc pipes delivered and 10 tons of gravel delivered. We also finished digging the trench since we had the pipes to estimate the length it needed to be. We decided not to make the french drain because installing the pipe alone is going to take a lot of work and then we also need to backfill and cover it with gravel which will probably take the rest of the project time.
One challenge we are currently facing is fitting the pipes together. There are 3 14 foot pipes and one union. The pipes are a lot harder to fit together than we first thought because we can’t get much leverage when we push them together and we also have a hard time getting the edge of the pipe passed the seal. Today we have a new plan to fit them together and if it works, we will hopefully start to fill the trench with dirt this period.
Since my last blog post we got the pvc pipes delivered and 10 tons of gravel delivered. We also finished digging the trench since we had the pipes to estimate the length it needed to be. We decided not to make the french drain because installing the pipe alone is going to take a lot of work and then we also need to backfill and cover it with gravel which will probably take the rest of the project time.
One challenge we are currently facing is fitting the pipes together. There are 3 14 foot pipes and one union. The pipes are a lot harder to fit together than we first thought because we can’t get much leverage when we push them together and we also have a hard time getting the edge of the pipe passed the seal. Today we have a new plan to fit them together and if it works, we will hopefully start to fill the trench with dirt this period.
Blog Entry 7
Since my last blog post, we have put the PVC pipe sections together, put them into the trench, back filled it with dirt and made it level, and spread gravel across the entire floor of the amphitheater. This was the last step in our project so we are officially done with beautifying the amphitheater. One last thing we might do is spread just a little more gravel to cover any spots we missed but overall we both think it looks good. We plan to email our mentor about our progress today and he told us he is planning to come to Durango in May and he might stop by to look at what we accomplished.
Some major challenges we faced since my last entry were time left in the project and fitting the pvc pipes together. We eventually tried putting a wood board against the opening of the pipe and hitting it with a sledge hammer so the impact would push the other side of the pipe into the one we were trying to get it into. This worked way better than anything we had tried previously and we continued to do this until all the pipe sections were attached to each other. The time left in the project was another challenge because it forced us to work a lot faster to get all the dirt and gravel from the parking lot to the amphitheater. We stayed after school one day for an hour or so to make sure that we could complete spreading gravel by the end of school on Friday.
This last week I have learned that time management is a very important thing if you have a big task ahead of you and a deadline that isn’t very far away. I think we could have managed our time a little bit better which would have taken some stress of not finishing on time away but I’m proud that we pulled through and completed the project by the original deadline. We also learned that 10 tons of gravel/dirt is a lot less than we thought it would be. We ordered 10 tons for our project and some other projects on campus but ended up using all of it to make the ground level in the amphitheater.
Some major challenges we faced since my last entry were time left in the project and fitting the pvc pipes together. We eventually tried putting a wood board against the opening of the pipe and hitting it with a sledge hammer so the impact would push the other side of the pipe into the one we were trying to get it into. This worked way better than anything we had tried previously and we continued to do this until all the pipe sections were attached to each other. The time left in the project was another challenge because it forced us to work a lot faster to get all the dirt and gravel from the parking lot to the amphitheater. We stayed after school one day for an hour or so to make sure that we could complete spreading gravel by the end of school on Friday.
This last week I have learned that time management is a very important thing if you have a big task ahead of you and a deadline that isn’t very far away. I think we could have managed our time a little bit better which would have taken some stress of not finishing on time away but I’m proud that we pulled through and completed the project by the original deadline. We also learned that 10 tons of gravel/dirt is a lot less than we thought it would be. We ordered 10 tons for our project and some other projects on campus but ended up using all of it to make the ground level in the amphitheater.
Blog Entry 8
The biggest challenge for us in this project was the time constraint. We used all of our time effectively but even that wasn’t enough. We were not very good at estimating the time that installing the pipe or digging the trench (and pretty much everything else that we did) would take. For example we thought the pipe would be installed by the 3rd week of the project but in reality we installed it the week after spring break. We ended up having to take time out of our SIG, X-Block, and after school to finish moving and spreading gravel after we noticed that we wouldn’t be able to finish with just the class time we had left. Using time from our other classes turned out to be a very effective way of finishing up the project and we actually finished right as school ended on the very last day of the project which was perfect.
One thing that I learned from this project that I will remember 10 years from now is how many problems we solved using skills from paper and 21 century skills. We solved almost every roadblock we hit with problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, and collaboration skills. I used to think those skills were just cliche things that were drilled into everyone’s head throughout the year but this is one of the first times that I’ve actually had proof of using them and actually noticed when I did. I will remember this 10 years from now because I will hopefully still be using these skills to get past any roadblocks I hit in the future.
I definitely think schools across America should have 20% projects because there is so much potential for them. Gmail came from a google employee’s 20% project and look how much that changed the world. I think if you give anyone 20% of their work time to focus on whatever they are passionate about the possibilities are endless especially if they are encouraged to shoot for the moon.
One thing that I learned from this project that I will remember 10 years from now is how many problems we solved using skills from paper and 21 century skills. We solved almost every roadblock we hit with problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, and collaboration skills. I used to think those skills were just cliche things that were drilled into everyone’s head throughout the year but this is one of the first times that I’ve actually had proof of using them and actually noticed when I did. I will remember this 10 years from now because I will hopefully still be using these skills to get past any roadblocks I hit in the future.
I definitely think schools across America should have 20% projects because there is so much potential for them. Gmail came from a google employee’s 20% project and look how much that changed the world. I think if you give anyone 20% of their work time to focus on whatever they are passionate about the possibilities are endless especially if they are encouraged to shoot for the moon.